John Bilheimer and Henry Jones

John Bilheimer and Henry Jones bring the civil rights movement to life, offering a first-hand account of what life was like for a black teen and a white teen in the Deep South in the late 1950s.

Bilheimer, who is white, and Jones, who is black, discuss their experiences growing up in Little Rock during the height of the battle over school desegregation from 1957-1959. The two grew up near one another before leaving the state to pursue their education. Billheimer earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Arkansas and Harvard University; Jones attended Yale University and the University of Michigan. The pair did not meet until adulthood while working at Arkansas’ first integrated law firm.